Episode 142: Have you ever thought of going to the International Permaculture Conference and Convergence (IPC)? Held every two years, switching between continents at different locations, the IPC is a gathering of Permaculture designers, teachers, and enthusiasts. This year, the IPC is held in India, which is celebrating 30 years of permaculture!

To learn more I spoke with Margie Bushman & Wes Roe of the Santa Barbara Permaculture Network. In this interview, Margie and Wes discuss Permaculture, their involvement with the IPC, and the next one taking place in Hyderabad India, in November and December of 2017. Hosted by Aranya Agricultural Alternatives NGO, the IPC 2017 will be a unique and possibly transforming experience. The whole Aranya organization, including community members, farmers from nearby villages, a dynamic group of international volunteers, and especially the community's women and children are all joyfully preparing to welcome the world to the IPC conference & convergence.

Margie & Wes are founding members of the Friends of the International Permaculture Convergences (FIPC) that works to insure there is a diversity of participants at each IPC by providing scholarships for delegates from around the world. Diversity is key here. Delegates come from a wide variety of regions and contribute toward a diversity of ideas and solutions arrived at each IPC. IPC's reach into every corner of the world, local to global, to bring forth and share these ideas. Past host sites have been in Australia, USA, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Nepal, Croatia, Brazil, Malawi, Jordan, Cuba, United Kingdom, and India in 2017, followed by Argentina in 2020. This year for the first time FIPC launched an ambitious worldwide crowdfund, so all in the global Permaculture community could easily contribute using the powerful energy of money to help shape a better world.

We are a global society, and more than any other time in history, in order to be resilient, we need a diversity of ideas from all regions and cultures to survive. For more than forty years Permaculture has been leading the way with innovative, planet and climate friendly design strategies, that are just now being fully recognized by the rest of the world as the answer to some of our most pressing challenges. 

Margie Bushman and Wes Roe are the co-founders of the Santa Barbara Permaculture Network, an educational non-profit founded in 2000 that has sponsored hundreds of workshops and events about Permaculture and sustainability. Margie was the Program Coordinator for the Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) Center for Sustainability from 2009-2013, where she developed a Cities as the Solution series and an Eco-Entrepreneurship pilot program. Together Margie and Wes teach the Invisible Structures component of the Permaculture Design Course, a credited class, that they are proud to have helped initiate at SBCC. Wes served as a board member of the Permaculture Credit Union for nine years, later as Board President. Margie and Wes have been volunteer coordinators for the IPC Support Group since its inception in 2005.

For more information on IPC2017, visit the IPC India website at : http://ipcindia2017.org/

Visit the Santa Barbara Permaculture Network/IPC page for the FIPC and crowdfund information: http://www.sbpermaculture.org/ipc.html